John Middleton Co. gears up for donations program

LIMERICK — When the smoke clears and decisions have been made, the money raised by a cigar company’s employees will again go to a handful of nonprofit groups.

Last year, workers at cigar manufacturer John Middleton Co. in Limerick donated $172,000 to 11 nonprofit organizations in the area.

Nonprofits interested in being considered for a grant may apply online at www.altria.com/employeecommunityfund by Feb. 19.

Advertisement

The 2012 recipients included Greater Norristown Police Athletic League and Laurel House, as well as groups from Berks County, Pottstown and Philadelphia.

Checks were handed out on Sept. 12 at Middleton’s sprawling plant on North Lewis Road.

Middleton parent company Altria Group, Inc. originally established the Altria Companies Employee Community Fund in 2000 as a way of getting their employees engaged in the communities where Altria operates.

Twelve years later, 120 nonprofits in all were receiving more than $2.4 million in grants in a single year; collectively, nearly $35 million has been handed out since the program’s inception.

In 2008, Richmond-based Altria purchased the John Middleton Co. — which started as a small tobacco shop in Philadelphia in 1856 — and before long the employees at both Limerick and King of Prussia facilities expressed interest in contributing to what is one of the few employee-driven workplace giving programs around, noted Ken Garcia, communications manager.

“As a result, we took the Community Fund that we’ve been running here in Richmond where we’re headquartered, and expanded it out to King of Prussia, Limerick; Hopkinsville, Ky; and outside Chicago, to broaden the reach and awareness of nonprofits to say that ‘if you fit into one of our focus areas then by all means please apply,’” Garcia noted by phone from his Richmond office.

The targeted areas where employees prefer to see their money doing some good include emergency services, domestic violence, homelessness, hunger relief, senior services and youth services.

“We’re trying to extend the impact the fund will have in your area, create more opportunities and receive more applications from nonprofits so that we can perhaps give out a larger number of grants, depending on how much money the employees are able to raise,” Garcia noted.

“Ultimately it’s the employees who sit on the grant-making committees that volunteer hours of their time to go over every single application trying to determine the relevance to the focus areas and how much money should be given.”

Vigorous debates have been known to ensue, he allowed.

“Because these people care so much about the causes, they take a really hard look at every application.”

Grant recipients will be announced by late summer and checks presented in early fall, Garcia noted.

“And then the process starts all over again, with fund raising in the fall, and winter and spring given to the application process and assessment.”

Last year’s collection at Middleton topped the previous year’s effort by $22,000, noted Duffy Wagner, the company’s director of manufacturing.

“We see how the nonprofits in our community help to make this a better place and we are glad to get a chance to support them,” he said. “Every dollar an employee gives goes directly to one of these charities. Altria covers all administration costs. There’s no overhead in this thing. We have employees who lead this effort across both of our facilities for contributions into the fund, and while they solicit funds they also ask employees to pick the focus areas for giving once all the funds are received.”

While Laurel House was a repeat beneficiary, it was the first time that PAL had applied.

Following last October’s check presentation, PAL director Brett Well PAL noted: “In this tough economy I don’t know how thick the competition was, but when it was all said and done we received a $6,000 grant and we are incredibly grateful. We can only charge so much for our programs that have such an impact on the young people in this community, so we depend so much on the corporate dollars and grants that we get.”